This afternoon the Pakistani shia community in Toronto organized a protest rally near the Pakistani Consulate. I never thought that I would ever say it, but that was a Muslim demonstration that I (to a great extent) supported.

The immediate reason for it was the slaughter of 200 shia Muslims in Pakistan, but it looks like those atrocities have been going on for years. According to the leaflet the organizers were handing out:

“Recent atrocities include: on route to Gilgit, Baltistan, approximately 2000 extremists stopped busses that were heading home, pulled out the shia’s and beat them fatally. Stoning, kicking, bashing with sticks and gouging their eyes out. Around 200 are suspected to be murdered.

43 killed during an Ashura procession in Karachi

34 killed during Arbaeen

43 killed on route for ziyarat to Iran

10 killed during Eid prayers

8 tortured and murdered in Parachinar.

Their hands and feet were cut off and then they were killed. More than 1400 Muslims were slaughtered in Parachinar from 2007-2011. These are human beings. They are your brothers and sisters. What will you do for those innocent victims?”

Yes, they were human beings – and so were the Christians and the Ahmadiyya Muslims in Pakistan, who have been systematically slaughtered in a similar way for decades. However, very little information about those atrocities makes its way into the media.

Maybe if all Muslims showed the same outrage over every case of oppression and mistreatment involving a minority group, the shia would have been safe now.

Walking among the participants, it was such a pleasure to see the signs condemning the most aggressive Muslim bully in the world – Saudi Arabia.

Some called for closure of the Saudi hate schools in Pakistan and attacked the country’s king:

Close the Saudi schools in Pakistan

The same wish...

They didn’t spare even the Taliban – it was a strange feeling to learn that they are disliked. You can see “Down with Taliban” and “Shame on King Abdulla” in the picture at the top. Another sign observed that it is “Easy to Be Taliban, Hard to Be Human”:

Taliban and humans are not the same?!

Even one of the speakers, an imam, whose name I missed, said that everybody in Pakistan had to be treated with respect, especially religious minorities. He stated that the Pakistani government has disgraced itself by failing to protect its own citizens.

The smart imam

I said in the beginning that I supported the rally to a great extend – and here comes the big “but” – instead of paying more attention on what really is wrong with the situation in Pakistan, where even the Muslim sects can’t get along, the organizers didn’t miss the chance to include the Jews in the mix of complaints.

Israel has neither the interest nor the capabilities to control Pakistan, but the sign in the first picture implied that somehow that tiny country has the sinister goal to “divide and conquer” (and of course the Muslims have uncovered that plot).

That insane theory was brought up again in the speech of Zafar Bangash, the notorious Israel hater and fanatic. It was very odd to see him at an event caused by the clash of two groups of Muslims. It was the same as inviting a clown to give a eulogy at a funeral.

Insanity in action...

Even the best conspiracy theorists would envy his way of weaving totally different ideas and forces into a mad plot. You can listen to his speech at Blazingcatfur, but let me give you a few details.

He started by blaming the Saudi wahhabis’ influence on the Pakistani government. But the wahhabis didn’t act alone – they were lackeys of the British, who installed Saud’s dynasty. Now Saudi Arabia has extended its servitude – it serves Israel and the American imperialism, trying to help them spread their influence. It is not by chance that the Saudis provoked that battle within Islam in Pakistan – their purpose is to create animosity between Pakistan and Iran.

The Muslims should respect Iran because it is the only true Islamic country in the world. Iran’s leaders (whom Bangash met) are the only true Islamic government as well. Only by supporting Iran, Muslims can hope to achieve the goals of their religion. The profound changes in the Muslims countries make the enemies of Islam tremble and with the help of the Islamic Republic, the Muslims will soon march to liberate “Palestine” and “Al Quds” (Jerusalem). So as one could expect, the fight between shia and sunnis will eventually lead to the destruction of Israel.

It was a sad end for the rally. It started as an event marking a real human tragedy and Bangash singlehandedly managed to turn it into a farce with his lunatic ravings.

I wonder if it’s too much to demand sanity from your speakers. If the Muslims in Pakistan take their guidance from people like Zafar Bangash, I see long decades of fights, hand cutting, eye gouging, gutting and plain old stabbing in the future of Pakistan…

10 Comments

“Muslims are waking up,” Bangash says. In his delusional mind, he must imagine himself to be the champion of the “oppressed” and the ones really to blame are “Zionists and American criminals”. The fact he was cheered by some is revealing.

BCF’s overlay of Hitler during a speech of his own while Bangash was ranting about the Jews is as brilliant as your line about the Clown at a funeral. I’ll raise you a wake at McDonald’s with a happy meal.

Well, the first two were Russian and Bulgarian. At school and until I graduated from the university, I studied German. I also took a three-year course in Chinese (Mandarin) at the university. I started studying English after I graduated.